東京外国語大学言語モジュール

Bahasa Melayu

Malay

The Distribution and Number of the Speakers of Malay

Among the numerous regional varieties of Malay used widely in Insular Southeast Asia, the Malay variety we learn here is the national and official language of Malaysia. It is the mother tongue of about 60 per cent of some 30 million Malaysians. In addition, those Malaysians who are native speakers of Chinese languages (such as Mandarin, Hokkien and Cantonese) and Indian languages (such as Tamil) also use it as a second language. Malay is the only language used throughout the country, from villages to big cities.
Furthermore, it is closely related to the Malay varieties of the neighbouring countries, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.

The Malay we learn here

We learn Standard Malay in Malaysia, the Malay variety understood across the nation, regardless of the dialect differences.
In Malay, there is a huge gap between the written language used in formal writings and situations, and the colloquial language used in daily conversations and casual situations. Our conversation module deals with the colloquial language. Note that many expressions that are peculiar to the colloquial speech have no official spelling. Hence, one may come across spellings different from those used here.

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